Jamaica Gleaner / The Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) prospective candidate for the North West St Andrew by-election, Dr Nigel Clarke, is promising consultation with residents should he succeed in his bid to replace Derrick Smith as member of parliament on March 5.

Clarke, who was speaking on Sunday at a JLP Area Council One meeting, where he was formally announced as the party’s pick for the seat, said that he was coming to the table with an open mind and an open heart.

“One of the things I plan to do as your member of parliament for St Andrew North West is help the communities here,” the soon-to-be candidate told JLP supporters at the Pembroke Hall Community Centre on Sunday.

“I am not a messiah, but I know a little thing about business and working together. We can make our communities better, we can make our communities stronger,” he further stated.

According to Clarke, who is now an ambassador at large in the Holness administration, he offered himself because he wanted to “fight the good fight”.

He also mentioned that working together with Prime Minister Andrew Holness over the past decade has nudged him to dabble in the rough sport of politics.

Clarke told Labourites he was on a mission to advance the quality of life of the people of the area.

“We are for the poor and we want to fight against poverty. We want to fight the forces that will keep our people in ignorance. We want to fight corruption in all its forms. We want to fight for justice. We want to fight for opportunity; we want to fight for prosperity,” Clarke said.

“I will be walking throughout the constituency and I look forward to spending time with all of you, getting to know all of you … spending time in your homes, spending time on the road, spending time at the community centre and the church,” he added.

san fernando Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley prayed with members of the Muslim community and distributed zakat (charity) to the needy as he celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr at two masjids in San Fernando yesterday. He attended the Eid services on an invitation from Minister of Local Government Kazim Hosein, who is also referred to as a…

gasparillo The mother of a disabled child was shot dead inside her apartment in Gasparillo yesterday. Ornella Philips, 28, was shot once in the chest. Her body was discovered lying in the living room around 10 a.m. The country’s murder toll now stands at 243. Her eight-year-old daughter, Kayla, has cerebral palsy and depends…

ISTANBUL (AP): Turkish police stopped activists for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights from gathering in large numbers for an LGBT Pride event in Istanbul yesterday, but smaller groups made impromptu press statements, defying a ban imposed by the governor. Organisers of the 2017 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride had vowed to march in central Taksim…

LONDON (AP): The list of high-rise apartment towers in Britain that have failed fire-safety tests grew to 60, officials said yesterday, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. All of the buildings for which external cladding samples were so far submitted failed combustibility tests, Communities Secretary…

BAHAWALPUR (AP): Alerted by an announcement over a mosque’s loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck had sprung a leak, scores of villagers raced to the scene with fuel containers yesterday to gather the oil. Then the wreck exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror. At least 153 men, women and children were…

WASHINGTON (AP): Making a final push, United States President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think congressional Republicans are “that far off” on a health overhaul to replace “the dead carcass of Obamacare”. Expressing frustration, he complained about “the level of hostility” in government and wondered why both parties can’t work together on the Senate bill…

While reliving the horrors experienced by so many families after another spate of bizarre violence across the country last week, I couldn’t help but picture Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett’s rictus grin plastered on television screens while the elderly and even suckling babes were being gruesomely slaughtered inside their homes. While the rest of us were…

MiamiHerald / The construction, at last, is mostly finished. Nearly 25 years after developer Craig Robins scooped up his first property in the then-blighted wholesale district geared to interior designers, the latest expansion of the $1.4 billion Miami Design District is almost complete. The barricades and cement trucks that made Northeast First Avenue look like…

MiamiHerald / The construction, at last, is mostly finished. Nearly 25 years after developer Craig Robins scooped up his first property in the then-blighted wholesale district geared to interior designers, the latest expansion of the $1.4 billion Miami Design District is almost complete. The barricades and cement trucks that made Northeast First Avenue look like…

MiamiHerald / The craze surrounding Miami Heat’s Vice-themed merchandise is picking up yet again. The Miami Heat announced that the team, in conjunction with Court Culture, will be giving away a pair of custom “Vice” themed Air Jordan 1s through a social media sweepstakes. The promotion began on Wednesday and will run until 5 p.m….

Jamaica Observer / ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) — Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Karl Samuda, says the Government has committed another $70 million to assist farmers in Trelawny with the transportation of sugar cane to the Appleton Estate and Worthy Park factories this year. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 63rd Hague…

MiamiHerald / The construction, at last, is mostly finished. Nearly 25 years after developer Craig Robins scooped up his first property in the then-blighted wholesale district geared to interior designers, the latest expansion of the $1.4 billion Miami Design District is almost complete. The barricades and cement trucks that made Northeast First Avenue look like…

MiamiHerald / The craze surrounding Miami Heat’s Vice-themed merchandise is picking up yet again. The Miami Heat announced that the team, in conjunction with Court Culture, will be giving away a pair of custom “Vice” themed Air Jordan 1s through a social media sweepstakes. The promotion began on Wednesday and will run until 5 p.m….

Jamaica Observer / WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Mitt Romney, the former Republican White House hopeful and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, announced Friday that he is seeking a US Senate seat in Utah, beginning a closely-watched return to the national political stage. “I am running for United States Senate to serve the people…

MiamiHerald / The city of Key West has reached a $425,000 settlement with a tattoo artist it tried to stop from opening a new shop in the historic district, citing an old law later struck down by an appellate court. Brad Buehrle has agreed to drop his federal case against the city, filed in May…

RT / It can’t have escaped your attention that politics now infests every part of life. You can’t watch the Oscars, update your Facebook page or even go to the lavatory without having to choose sides. Legend tells of a time when people would engage in conversation and debate, having formed opinions based on evidence…

Jamaica Information / Acting Community Relations Manager for the Eastern Division of the National Water Commission (NWC), Delano Williams, addresses the launch of the NWC’s essay and photo competitions on February 13 at the agency’s Hope Water Treatment Plant in St. Andrew. + – Photo: Donald De La Haye Acting Community Relations Manager for the…

Jamaica Observer / New FC Reno Head Coach Vassell Reynolds believes that his team is ready to stake a claim for a spot in the top six of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL). That would certainly give them a chance to make an assault on the league title when the play-off rounds begin. Since…

Jamaica Observer / MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Seventh-day Adventists and the wider Christian community have been challenged to make Jamaica positively exceptional again by incorporating outreach programmes that reflect their stewardship responsibilities for all facets of the lives of Jamaicans. The challenge came from Professor Alvin Wint while delivering the main address at the Recognition and…

Jamaica Information / Chief Executive Officer of the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), Kaysia Kerr, addresses a Think Tank held at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) headquarters in Kingston. + – Photo: Mark Bell Chief Executive Officer of the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), Kaysia Kerr, addresses a Think Tank held at the Jamaica Information…

RT / Presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky of the liberal party Yabloko has urged voters not to dismiss their right to participate in elections, adding that boycotts inevitably fail to produce any results. ” We should not go on strike, we should vote, because this is our right. If we all stay at home simply nothing…

MiamiHerald / The Miami Marlins begin spring training Monday with the first full-squad work up in Jupiter, but hope does not spring eternal. Hope sprung a leak. It smells like rotten Fish in here. The Marlins are tanking the season after a shameful winter salary dump that betrayed the trust of fans yet again. South…

RT / The ongoing role of false narratives and historical fallacies. S tephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian Studies and Politics at NYU and Princeton, and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fourth year, are at TheNation.com .) Cohen has been warning…